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AS MAN OF LETTERS 



James Hosmer Penniman, Litt. D. 



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GEORGE WASHINGTON 

AS MAN OF LETTERS 



TO GIVE A CLEARER IDEA OF THE CHARACTER 

OF WASHINGTON IS TO SET A HIGHER 

STANDARD FOR AMERICAN 

PATRIOTISM 



COPYRIGHT 

JAMES H. PENNIMAN 

1918 






CL 



GEORGE WASfflNGTON 

AS MAN OF LETTERS 

George Washington had an extraordinary respect 
for higher education, and was always inchned to over- 
estimate what he considered his own deficiencies in 
this regard; but, though he never went to college, 
Washington's education was so comprehensive that 
Patrick Henry said of the First Continental Congress, 
"If you speak of solid information and sound judg-/ 
ment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the 
greatest man on the floor." 

The delegates who attended this Congress were 
the ablest body of men who up to that time had met 
in America; among them were John and Samuel 
Adams, Roger Sherman, John Jay, Richard Henry 
Lee and Patrick Henry. It was of this Congress that 
Chatham said in his speech in the House of Lords, 
January 20, 1775, "For myself, I must declare and 
avow that in all my reading and observation — and 
history has been my favorite study — I have read 
Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master 
States of the world — ^that for solidity of reasoning, 
force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under 
such a complication of difficult circumstances, no 
nation or body of men can stand in preference to the 
general Congress at Philadelphia." Dr. S. Weir 
Mitchell, who speaks with authority about Washing- 
ton, says "of all the fiction and of all the calumnies 
about this man, the most singularly without founda- 
tion is the belief early held by many that he was 
uneducated." 

3 



When George Washington was sixteen his school 
days were over and he was earning his living as a 
surveyor. He had then received a common school 
education that was particularly thorough in mathe- 
matics, for which he showed remarkable aptitude. He 
also had been well trained in that greatest of all 
English classics, the Bible, the study of which began 
at his mother's knee and continued throughout his 
life. I have seen, in the Library of Congress, Bible 
references which young Washington entered in a 
pocket notebook. With the exception of an interlined 
note, all the entries in the family Bible are in his 
writing. Washington read the funeral services over 
General Braddock, and as a young officer frequently 
read prayers and the Scriptures to his men. He read 
the Bible to his family with reverence and with dis- 
tinct enunciation. 

March 5, 1794, Washington viTote Charles 
Thompson that he had finished reading the first 
part of his translation of the Septuagint. Washing- 
ton spent many hours of his life in church, where 
he was an attentive listener and where he obtained 
a great deal of knowledge of the Bible. His nephew, 
Robert Lewis, said that he had accidentally wit- 
nessed Washington's private devotions in his library 
both morning and evening, and had seen him kneel- 
ing with an open Bible before him, and that this 
was his daily habit. Washington went to his library 
at four in the morning, and, after his devotions, 
spent the time till breakfast in writing and study. 
He also spent an hour in his library before retiring 
at night. When he died, the open Bible from which 
Mrs. Washington had been reading to him lay on a 
chair by the bedside. 

A large part of Washington's education he gave 
himself, for he was always learning. He was edu- 

4 



cated in the school of adversity, by his heroic efforts 
to make the most of the desperate circumstances in 
which he was placed, by the great operations in 
which he was the leading actor, by his association 
with the cultivated and influential men and women 
of his time, beginning with his father and mother, 
his brother Lawrence and Lord Fairfax, and including 
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander 
Hamilton. As he rode about the country he talked 
with the farmers, and persons of intelligence every- 
where found him an attentive listener. Such was his 
skill in recognizing natural ability that he learned 
much from plain men like the bookseller Ejiox, 
the blacksmith Greene, the farmer Putnam and 
the teamster Morgan. Though Washington's only 
journey beyond the limits of what is now the United 
States was a voyage to Barbados when he was nine- 
teen, few men of his time traveled more extensively 
in our own country and none observed more accur- 
ately and intelligently. The most useful lessons that 
Washington learned were not contained in books. He 
developed sharp eyes, well-trained muscles and keen 
wits. He learned how to take care of himself and of 
those who were with him in the forest and in the 
camp. He learned the ways of wild and domestic 
animals. Horses and dogs recognized in him their 
master. He learned how to treat their ailments, and 
even how to set their broken limbs. He became skilled 
in outdoor sports, hunting, fishing, swimming and 
woodcraft. He learned how to manage canoes, how 
to swim horses across swollen streams, how to blaze 
trails and how to make fires and camps in the open. 
The acquisition of knowledge was with Washington 
always the acquisition of power, and he constantly 
admired the best things of his time, which in itself 
is culture. A man is distinguished by what he takes 



an interest in. It is not so much what he knows as 
what he really wishes to know and the practical use 
that he makes of his knowledge that determines his 
usefulness in the world. When George Washington 
took an interest in anything, it was an active interest. 
For example, he delivered the most eloquent speech 
made at the Virginia Convention in 1774. It was, 
I "I will raise one thousand men, enlist them at my 
own expense, and march, myself at their head, for 
the relief of Boston." Washington made a point of 
knowing how to do useful things, and the range of 
the subjects to which his thought was directed 
extended over a wide field. His character was based 
on an enormous capacity for hard work and for tak- 
ing pains. He was able to accomplish great results 
with small means, because method and system were 
ingrained in his nature. He was exact because he 
was truthful. 

The various matters that he had in charge were 
arranged in separate compartments of his mind. 
Nothing was confused, everything was in order and 
could be referred to promptly. He had such control 
over his thoughts that he could turn from the build- 
ing of a plow to the building of the Constitution with- 
out the loss of time or energy. He was a thinker, 
trained to focus his mind and concentrate his atten- 
tion until he had worked out a subject in all its pos- 
sibilities. His lifelong habit of writing out his ideas 
in exact language was a great aid to his clear think- 
ing. With a constant attention to details, unusual 
except in little men dealing with petty affairs, his 
life moved along broad lines, and his iron will held 
him steadfast to the things of permanent value for 

the advancement of his country. 

Except its letters, no property throws such light 
upon the spiritual life of a family as its books. 

6 



Judged by this test the moral and intellectual stand- 
ard of the Washingtons was very high. Most of the 
Washington books are preserved in the Boston 
Athenaeum, though a number are in other collec- 
tions. They are not only of a superior character, but 
they contain autogi-aph inscriptions which repay 
careful study. --^, 

The nature of the parental training which young 
George received may be understood when we see on 
the title page of a volume of sermons by the Bishop 
of Exeter what is probably the earliest specimen of 
Washington's penmanship, his name written twice, 
when he was eight or nine years old. In Short Dis- 
courses upon the whole Common Prayer by the Dean 
of Durham, George Washington, at the age of thirteen, 
wrote his own name and that of his mother; and 
years before, his father, Augustine Washington, had 
written his name with the date 1727, to this after his 
marriage was added "and Mary Washington.** Next 
to the Bible, Mary Washington valued Sir Matthew 
Hale's Contemplations and Hervey's Meditations, 
and her copies of these pious works, in which she has 
written her name, are still preserved. George Wash- 
ington when a boy read and reread the Contempla- 
tions to his mother, and it had a great influence in 
forming his character. 

In the Athenaeum are the first and second vol- 
umes of Steel's Guardian, with Washington's auto- 
graphs at the age of seventeen. 

Washington's autograph, written also at the age 
of seventeen in a Latin Testament, is one of several 
indications that as a boy he had studied Latin. On 
the flyleaf of a Latin Lexicon of Homer published 
in 1742 is written: 

Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum 

Redde, si forsan tenues repertum, 
7 



Ut scias qui sum sine fraude scriptum. 
Est mihi nomen. 
Georgio Washington, 
George Washington, 
Fredericksburg, 
Virginia. 

We get closer to the real Washington when we 
see a book in which he has written his autograph and 
marginal notes and placed his bookplate. It would 
be hard to find a more fitting motto for a man of 
action than that of the Washington family on his 
bookplate, EXITUS ACTA PROBAT, a quotation 
from Ovid, which may be translated: The result is 
the test of the acts. The result in his case was the 
United States, and the acts were the memorable 
series of his glorious deeds at Dorchester and Trenton 
and Princeton and Valley Forge and Monmouth and 
Yorktown. He may have been thinking of the 
EXITUS in his motto when he wrote the words which 
crown the Washington arch in New York, "Let us 
raise a standard to which the wise and the honest 
can repair. The event (EXITUS) is in the hand of 
God.'^ 
f . Throughout his life Washington was a sys- 
' tematic book-buyer. His library was a growth. Long 
before Emerson advised it, he bought in the Hne of 
his genius, and his books indicate his constant ad- 
vance in that self -education which was essential to 
the intelligent discharge of his duties as a farmer, 
as a soldier and as statesman. ^ 

The years before the Revolution were important 
ones in the life of Washington, for they were a period 
of study and mental growth preparing him for the 
serious business that was to follow. For fifteen 
years continuously he was a member of the House of 
Burgesses of Virginia. There were two or three 

8 



sessions a year, and it was his custom to be present 
from the beginning to the end of them. He then 
became intimate with the able men of Virginia, and 
developed his powers by discussing the many import- 
ant matters which came up for consideration. It was 
then that he received the training in parliamentary 
procedure which fitted him to be a member of the 
two Continental Congresses, to preside over the Con- 
stitutional Convention, and to serve eight years as 
President of the United States. Sparks says, "His 
influence in public bodies was produced more by the 
soundness of his judgment, his quick perceptions and 
his directness and undeviating sincerity, than by 
eloquence or art in recommending his opinions. He 
seldom spoke, never harangued, and it is not known 
that he ever made a set speech or entered into a 
stormy debate. But his attention was at all times 
awake. He studied profoundly the prominent topics 
of discussion and, whenever occasion required, was 
prepared to deliver his sentiments clearly and to act 
with decision and firmness." When his nephew was 
elected to the House of Burgesses, Washington wrote 
him : "Speak seldom, but on important subjects and 
such as particularly relate to your constituents. * * * 
Make yourself perfectly master of the subject." That 
^^„Washington did this is shown by the fact that so 
tmany of the books in his library relate to law, politics 
and government. These Washington pondered over: 
Before attending the Constitutional Convention 
in 1787 he made a careful study of Montesquieu and 
various other writers on systems of government, 
paying especial attention to the ancient and modem 
confederacies. There is a paper in Washington's 
handwriting which contains an abstract of each, in 
which are carefully noted their chief characteristics, 
the kinds of authority they possessed, their modes 

9 



of operation and their defects. The confederacies 
analyzed are the Lycian, Amphictyonic, Achaean, 
Helvetic, Belgic and Germanic. This study, added 
to his own intimate knowledge of the system of 
government of the nation and of his own State, 
gained by long and active experience, rendered him 
especially fitted to preside over the Convention. No 
man had more influence than Washington in the 
formation of the document of which Gladstone wrote, 
**The American Constitution is the most wonderful 
work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and 
purpose of man." 

During his Presidency, Washington was con- 
stantly going over the official papers and making 
abstracts of their contents, which he arranged in 
logical order. He thus fixed important points in his 
mind and obtained a comprehensive view of the 
entire subject. Monroe's "View of the Conduct of 
the Executive of the United States,** with Washing- 
ton's marginal notes, is now in the Library of 
Harvard University. 

Washington was among the first of his time in 
that fundamental department of culture — agriculture. 
When a young man he made full summaries of Tull's 
and of DuhameFs Husbandry and of the Farmer's 
Compleat Guide. Tull's Husbandry was probably the 
first important work that he studied, followed by 
Duhamel, which was based on Tull. The Gentleman 
Farmer, by Henry Home, Lord Kames, was one of 
Washington's principal guides. In the Library of 
Congress is a transcript he made of portions of it, 
forming a volume of one hundred and fourteen man- 
uscript pages. In 1784 he made a complete summary 
of Higgins on Calcareous Cements. Washington's 
library contains thirty-one volumes of Annals of 
Agriculture by Arthur Young. Mr. W. C. Ford says : 

10 



"In closely written notebooks Washington jotted 
down what attracted his notice in the Annals, clas- 
sifying his notes by articles, and particular attention 
being paid to grains and roots, courses of crops and 
cattle." 

Washington wrote that few of the many works 
which have been written on agriculture are founded 
on experimental knowledge, and most are contra- 
dictory and bewildering. August 15, 1786, he wrote 
Theodorick Bland, "I shall always be happy to give 
or receive communications on improvements in farm- 
ing, and the various branches of agriculture. This 
is, in my opinion, an object of infinite importance to 
the country. I consider it to be the proper source of 
American wealth and happiness, whose streams 
might become more copious and diffusive; if gentle- 
men of leisure and capacity would turn their atten- 
tion to it, and bring the results of their experiments 
together; nothing but cultivation is wanting. Our 
lot has certainly destined a good country for our 
inheritance.*' 

Throughout the Revolution, George Washington 
wrote a weekly letter to Lund Washington, giving 
directions about the management of Mount Vernon. 
These letters were sometimes sixteen pages long. 
Four days before his death Washington completed a 
system of management for his estate for several 
years to come, with tables designating the rotation of 
crops. This was written with care and comprised 
thirty folio pages. Washington's letters to Arthur 
Young and to Sir John Sinclair have been published 
and constitute important additions to the literature 
of agriculture. He gives the result of his own ex- 
perience and experiments at Mount Vernon, and the 
information obtained through circular letters which 
he sent to farmers in various parts of the country, 

11 



asking their opinions on such subjects as the values 
and rents of land, the average product in different 
kinds of crops, prices of stock, etc. The clearness 
and simplicity of the language of Washington's 
letters on agriculture make them interesting reading 
more than a century after they were written. They 
are scientific classics, like Franklin's papers and the 
essays of Huxley and Tyndall. 

The long winter evenings at Mount Vernon gave 
abundant opportunity for solid study, and there is 
not lacking evidence that there was such study. 
Among the thousands of articles which Washington 
sent for from England before the Revolution are "a 
candlestick with two lights and a shade to read by," 
and numerous books for the use of himself and his 
family. For example, in 1762, Washington ordered 
from London Smollett's History of England, in eleven 
volumes, and paid three guineas for them. It is a 
fair assumption that this work was sent for because 
Washington intended to read it and not as a piece 
of library furniture. Washington's early interest in 
English history and literature is shown by a mem- 
orandum written in his notebook when he was 
sixteen "March 15, 1748, Read to the Reign of K; 
John : In the Spectator Read to 143." 

In later years Washington was more occupied in 
making history than in reading it. His dealings were 
with men rather than with books, yet he wrote : "A 
knowledge of books is the basis upon which other 
knowledge is to be built." He, therefore, diligently 
collected books and pamphlets on subjects of utility 
to himself, and any subject that interested him was 
sure to be of value to his f ellowmen. Always a man 
of affairs, he read for practical information. When 
he had retired to his library no one dared to disturb 
him. 

12 



He wrote to G. W. P. Custis, "Light reading (by 
this I mean books of little importance) may amuse 
for the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind. 'Tis 
to close application and constant perseverance men 
of letters and science are indebted for their knowl- 
edge and usefulness.'* May 29, 1797, Washington 
wrote the Secretary of War from Mount Vernon, 
where repairs were being made, "It may strike you 
that in this detail no mention is made of any portion 
of time allotted to reading. The remark would be 
just, for I have not looked into a book since I came 
home, nor shall I be able to do it until I have dis- 
charged my workmen ; probably not before the nights 
grow long, when possibly I may be looking into 
Poomsday book." 

/ The inventory of Washington's books made by 
'the appraisers shows that at his death his library 
numbered about nine hundred volumes, besides mag- 
azines, pamphlets and maps. Compared with othe^ 
private libraries of his time, his was very large, for 
then books were expensive and not numerous in 
America. 

A fact which impresses us as we look over the 
list is that his library contained very little trash, 
and that most of his books were written to convey 
information. As might be expected, a large number 
of works relate to agriculture, military affairs and 
methods of government, the three subjects to which 
Washington chiefly devoted himself. There are also 
numerous sermons and religious books, many of 
which were presented to the General by their authors, 
and many were the property of Mrs. Washington, 
who was a great reader of devotional literature. 
There are several medical works, which had to be 
consulted frequently, in a large estate like Mount 
Vernon, remote from doctors. Complete lists of 

13 



Washington's library are common, and it is proposed 
here to classify only a few of the more important lit- 
erary works, and to omit those on military affairs, 
agriculture and politics. Among Washington's lit- 
erary classics were several editions of the Bible and 
commentaries upon it; Shakespeare, Pope, transla- 
tions of the Iliad and Odyssey, Burns, Ossian, Don 
Quixote, Gil Bias, Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey 
Clinker, Gulliver's Travels, Swift's Works, Beauties 
of Sterne, Butler's Hudibras, The Spectator, The 
Bee, The Letters of Junius, A Translation of Horace, 
Thomson's Seasons, and Beauties of Isaac Watts. 
There are numerous American works, such as The 
Conquest of Canaan, by Timothy Dwight, Freneau's 
Poems, and The Vision of Columbus, by Joel Barlow. 
Washington was fond of books of travel, mem- 
oirs and history, especially American history, and his 
library contained many books on these subjects; 
among them are Chastellux's Travels, Bartram's 
Travels, Warville's Voyages, three volumes ; Young's 
Travels, Anson's Voyage Around the World, Moore's 
Travels, five volumes; Robertson's Charles V, four 
volumes ; Gibbon's Roman Empire, six volumes ; King 
of Prussia's works, thirteen volumes; Charles XII, 
Hart's Gustavus Adolphus, two volumes ; History of 
Marshal Turenne, two volumes; Historical Memoirs 
of Frederick II, two volumes; Robertson's America, 
Heath's Memoirs, Ramsay's South Carohna, Sir 
Henry Clinton's Narrative, Lee's Memoirs and 
Gordon's History of America. 

Washington's early, interest in great command- 
ers is shown by the fact which I have not seen com- 
mented upon, that September 20, 1759, he ordered 
from London busts of Alexander, Julius Caesar, 
Charles XII of Sweden, the King of Prussia, Prince 
Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough. These were 
all the busts that he ordered, and they are all of men 

14 



eminent in the art of war. In 1756 he had written 
the major of his regiment "to recommend in the 
strongest terms to you the necessity of qualifying 
yourself by reading/' Is it assuming too much to 
suppose that Washington who, at twenty-two, had 
stated "my inclinations are strongly bent to arms," 
by the time he was twenty-seven had made himself 
familiar, by reading, with the lives and campaigns 
of these famous generals, and for this reason wished 
to have at Mount Vernon the companionship and 
inspiration of their counterfeit presentments ? 

Throughout his life Washington retained an 
interest in great commanders. Late in the Revolu- 
tion he ordered sent him from New York the lives of 
Charles XII and Louis XV, Peter the Great, Turenne, 
Vauban, Sully, Gustavus Adolphus, and also Gold- 
smith's Natural History in seven volumes; Robert- 
son's America, Locke on the Understanding, Milden 
on Trees, Vertot's Revolution of Rome (if well 
esteemed) , and asks for a catalogue of books. Wash- 
ington paid $185 for the American Encyclopedia in 
eighteen volumes, which he directs shall be "bound in 
gilt calf; and I hope it will be done neatly." Up-to- 
date works of applied science are noticeable, such as 
Blanchard's Journal of the first balloon ascension in 
America, January 9, 1793 ; Jeffries' Aerial Voyages, 
James Rumsey on Steamboats, and Fulton on Small 
Canals and Iron Bridges. 

Washington's interest in education is shown by 
the following books : Chapman on Education, Graham 
on Education, Chesterfield's Letters, Locke on Human 
Understanding, Seneca's Morals, and two copies of 
Telemachus. On receipt of Chapman's treatise on 
Education, Washington wrote the author, "My senti- 
ments are perfectly in unison with yours. Sir, that 
the best means of forming a manly, virtuous and 

15 



/ happy people, will be found in the right education of 
^ youth — without this foundation, every other means, 
in my opinion, must fail." Washington's library con- 
tained a large number of pamphlets, mostly on polit- 
ical, agricultural and religious topics, and his sense 
of their importance is shown by the fact that he had 
many of them bound, often carefully arranged 
according to subjects. In one of his books he has 
noted where the parts have been transposed by the 
binder. Washington took great interest in geography 
and had many books on the subject. His Atlas of the 
World was compiled by the General himself, and had 
a Table of Contents written by him. Some idea of 
the extent and accuracy of his study of geography 
may be formed from the following letter. June 19, 
1788, he wrote Richard Henderson, who had sent him 
certain queries made by persons proposing to emi- 
grate to America, 'The author of the queries may 
then be referred to the 'Information for those who 
would wish to remove to America,' and published in 
Europe in the year 1784 by the great philosopher, 
Dr. Franklin. Short as it is, it contains almost every- 
thing that needs to be known on the subject of 
migrating to this country. You may find that excel- 
lent little treatise in 'Carey's American Museum,' 
for September, 1787. As to the European publica- 
tions respecting the United States, they are com- 
monly very defective. The Abbe Raynal is quite 
erroneous. Guthrie, though somewhat better in- 
formed, is not absolutely correct. There is now an 
American geography preparing for the press by a 
Mr. Morse, of New Haven, in Connecticut, which, 
from the pains the author has taken in traveling 
through the States, and acquiring information from 
the principal characters in each, will probably be 
much more exact and useful. Of books at present 

16 



existing Mr. Jefferson's *Notes on Virginia' will give 
the best idea of this part of the continent to a 
foreigner; and the 'American Farmer's Letters,' 
written by Mr. Crevecoeur (commonly called Mr. St. 
John), the French consul in New York, who actually 
resided twenty years as a farmer in that State, will 
afford a great deal of profitable and amusive infor- 
mation respecting the private life of the Americans, 
as well as the progress of agriculture, manufactures, 
and arts, in their country. Perhaps the picture he 
gives, though founded on fact, is in some instances 
embellished with rather too flattering circum- 
stances." 

The letters which Washington wrote in acknowl- 
edgment of books presented him by their authors 
were numerous and show sound literary judgment. 
In writing of agricultural works he nearly always 
says that he has read them or intends to read them 
shortly, a statement which he is not so apt to make 
with regard to books on other subjects. That men 
of letters in distant places sent him their works is 
evidence of the immediate recognition by the learned 
world of his inestimable services to humanity. These 
books were in many languages, but he could read 
only those in English. Washington wrote Nicholas 
Pike, author of Pike's Arithmetic, June 20, 1788: 
**The science of figures to a certain degree is not only 
indispensably requisite in every walk of civilized life, 
but the investigation of mathematical rules accus- 
toms the mind to method and correctness in reason- 
ing, and is an employment peculiarly worthy of 
rational beings. In a cloudy state of existence, where 
so many things appear precarious to the bewildered 
research, it is here that the rational faculties find a 
firm foundation to rest upon. From the high ground 
of mathematical and philosophical demonstration we 

17 



are insensibly led to far nobler speculations and sub- 
lime meditations/' August 28, 1788, he wrote Jon- 
athan Edwards, who had sent him his observations 
on the language of the Muhhekaneew Indians: "I 
have long regretted that so many tribes of the Amer- 
ican aborigines should have become almost or entirely 
extinct, without leaving such vestiges as that the 
genius and idiom of their language might be traced. 
Perhaps from such sources the descent or kindred of 
nations whose origins are lost in remote antiquity or 
illiterate darkness might be more rationally investi- 
gated than in any other mode." He wrote General 
William Heath, May 20, 1797. "It gives me great 
pleasure to hear from yourself that you are writing 
memoirs of those transactions which passed under 
your notice during the revolutionary war. Having 
always understood that you were exact and copious 
in noting occurrences at the time they happened, a 
work of this kind will, from the candor and ability 
with which I am persuaded your notes were taken, be 
uncommonly correct and interesting. Whether you 
mean to publish them at your own expense or by 
subscription is not intimated in your letter. If the 
latter, I pray you to consider me as a subscriber, and 
in any event as a purchaser of your production, that 
you may enjoy health to complete the work to your 
entire satisfaction, I devoutly pray; and that you 
may live afterwards to hear it applauded, as I doubt 
not it will be, I as sincerely wish. If I should live to 
see it published, I shall read it with great avidity." 
To James Ewing, who sent him a pamphlet he 
had written, "Th-e Columbian Alphabet: Being the 
attempt to new model the English alphabet in such 
manner as to mark every simple sound by an appro- 
priate character, thereby rendering the spelling and 
pronunciation more determinate and correct, and the 

18 



art of reading and writing more easily attainable," 
he wrote, February 26, 1799: "It is curious, and 
if it could be introduced might be useful for the pur- 
poses proposed ; but it will be a work of time, it is to 
be feared, before it will be adopted generally." 

Washington was a careful reader of the news- 
papers, and wrote Matthew Carey, the Philadelphia 
publisher, June 25, 1788: "I entertain a high idea 
of the utility of periodical publications; insomuch 
that I could heartily desire copies of the Museum and 
Magazines, as well as common Gazettes, might be 
spread through every city, town and village in 
America. I consider such easy vehicles of knowledge 
more happily calculated than any other to preserve 
the liberty, stimulate the industry, and meliorate the 
morals of an enlightened and free people." Tobias 
Lear says that on the day Washington was seized 
with his last illness, "in the evening, the papers hav- 
ing come from the post-office, he sat in the room with 
Mrs. Washington and myself, reading them, till about 
nine o'clock, when Mrs. Washington went up into 
Mrs. Lewis's room, who was confined, and left the 
General and myself reading the papers. He was very 
cheerful ; and when he met with anything which he 
thought diverting or interesting, he would read it 
aloud as well as his hoarseness would permit. He 
desired me to read to him the debates of the Virginia 
Assembly, on the election of a Senator and Gov- 
ernor." 

Washington subscribed to numerous books, and 
was one of the principal patrons of letters of his time 
in this country. Though he refused applications for 
permission to dedicate books to him, he wrote, March 
23, 1787: "I always wish to give every possible 
encouragement to those works of Genius which are 
the production of an American." In 1787 he sub- 

19 



scribed for twenty copies of Joel Barlow's Vision of 
Columbus at one and one-third dollars each. .. Wash- 
ington wrote Lafayette, May 28, 1788, introducing 
Joel Barlow: "Mr. Barlow is considered by those 
who are good Judges to be a genius of the first mag- 
nitude, and to be one of those Bards who hold the 
keys of the gate by which Patriots, Sages and Heroes 
are admitted to immortality. Such are your Antient 
Bards who are both the priest and doorkeepers to the 
temple of fame. And these, my dear Marquis, are 
no vulgar functions. Men of real talents in Arms 
have commonly approved themselves patrons of the 
liberal arts and friends to the poets, of their own as 
well as former times. In some instances by acting 
reciprocally, heroes have made poets and poets 
heroes. Alexander the Great is said to have been 
enraptured with the poems of Homer, and to have 
lamented that he had not a rival muse to celebrate 
his actions. Julius Caesar is well known to have 
been a man of a highly cultivated understanding and 
taste. Augustus was the professed and magnificent 
rewarder of poetical merit — nor did he lose the 
return of having his atchievements immortalized in 
song. The Augustan age is proverbial for intellectual 
refinement and elegance in composition; in it the 
harvest of laurels and bays was wonderfully mingled 
together. The age of your Louis the Fourteenth, 
which produced a multitude of great Poets and great 
Captains, will never be forgotten; nor will that of 
Queen Anne in England, for the same cause, ever 
cease to reflect a lustre upon the kingdom. Although 
we are yet in our cradle as a nation, I think the 
efforts of the human mind with us are sufficient to 
refute (by incontestable facts) the doctrines of those 
who have asserted that everything degenerates in 
America. Perhaps we shall be found at this moment 

20 



not inferior to the rest of the world in the perform- 
ances of our poets and painters; notwithstanding 
many of the incitements are wanting which operate 
powerfully among older nations. For it is generally 
understood that excellence in those sister Arts has 
been the result of easy circumstances, public encour- 
agements and an advanced stage of society. I observe 
that the Critics in England who speak highly of the 
American poetical geniuses (and their praises may 
be the more relied upon as they seem to be reluctantly 
extorted,) are not pleased with the tribute of applause 
which is paid to your nation." September 2, 1783, 
Washington wrote Mrs. Richard Stockton, who after- 
wards composed the verses sung by the ladies of 
Trenton when he was on his way to New York to be 
inaugurated : "Fiction is, to be sure, the very life and 
soul of Poetry — all Poets and Poetesses have been 
indulged in the free and indisputable use of it, time 
out of mind. And to oblige you to make such an 
excellent Poem on such a subject, without any 
materials but those of simple reality, would be as 
cruel as the edict of Pharoah which compelled the 
Children of Israel to manufacture bricks without the 
necessary ingredients." In 1788 he wrote Lucretia 
Van Winter, a Dutch poetess: "The muses have 
always been revered in every age, and in all countries 
where letters and civilization have made any prog- 
ress — as they tend to alleviate the misfortunes and 
soften the sorrows of life — they will ever be re- 
spected by the humane and virtuous.'' 

The collection of Washington's manuscripts in 
the Library of Congress, known to be the greatest 
of any one man in the world, comprises many thou- 
sand pages written in a large legible hand, whose 
simplicity, strength and elegance make Washington's 
signature an ornament to any document to which it 

21 



is affixed. Mr. W. C. Ford has edited the writings 
of Washington in fourteen large volumes, of at least 
five hundred pages each. Paul Leicester Ford said 
truly of this monumental labor of his brother, that 
it is easily first in importance of all works relating 
to the great American. Jared Sparks, who wrote 
what is in many respects the best life of Washington, 
and edited his writings in eleven large volumes, 
states that he had in his possession for ten years 
more than two hundred folio volumes of manuscripts 
of Washington. No one has had more opportunity 
for the study of the original Washington documents 
than Sparks, whose literary performances as his- 
torian and biographer, added to his eminent position 
as president of Harvard, entitle him to consideration 
when he says that it is not believed that there is in 
history an instance of a public man who was in the 
genuine sense of the term more emphatically the 
author of the papers which received the sanction of 
his name. 

Though Washington had to maintain his corre- 
spondence without the assistance of stenographers 
or typewriters, he has left the enormous number of 
at least eighteen thousand letters. It is true that 
during the Revolution and in later years Washington 
employed the aid of secretaries, but the sense of the 
letters is Washington's own, and in many cases they 
are in his writing. Washington's commission as 
commander-in-chief is dated June 19, 1775; he 
resigned December 23, 1783. He was, therefore, in 
command of the army for three thousand one hun- 
dred and nine days, and during this time he wrote 
about nine thousand letters on military business, an 
average of nearly three a day. Many of these letters 
are of considerable length, and some were written at 
times when he was distressed by anxiety, worn by 
exhaustion, or even in personal danger. 

22 



In addition to eighteen thousand letters, the 
Washington manuscripts in the Library of Congress 
include numerous diaries, account books, invoices, 
surveys, speeches, messages, proclamations and codi- 
fications and abstracts of important books and docu- 
ments. In May, 1781, Congress authorized Washing- 
ton to have all his official papers copied into books. 
He selected Colonel Richard Varick to take charge of 
this work, and to classify the papers by a plan 
arranged by Washington himself. Varick and sev- 
eral clerks were thus employed for two years and a 
half. Washington wrote Varick January 1, 1784: 
"The public and other papers, which were committed 
to your charge, and the books in which they have 
been recorded under your inspection, having come 
safe to hand, I take this first opportunity of signify- 
ing my entire approbation of the manner in which 
you have executed the important duties of recording 
secretary, and the satisfaction I feel in having 
my papers so properly arranged, and so correctly 
recorded; and I beg you will accept my thanks for 
the care and attention which you have given to this 
business. I am fully convinced that neither the 
present age nor posterity will consider the time and 
labor which have been employed in accomplishing it 
unprofitably spent." 

As soon as Washington reached Mount Vernon, 
after resigning his commission, he was so over- 
whelmed by requests for aid of various kinds that 
Mr. W. C. Ford says two volumes might be filled with 
his replies, which were always carefully and tactfully 
written. Washington wrote General Knox, January 
5, 1785 : "It is not the letters from my friends 
which give me trouble, or add ought to my per- 
plexity. I receive them with pleasure and pay as 
much attention to them as my avocations will admit. 

23 



It is references to old matters with which I have 
nothing to do — applications which oftentimes cannot 
be complied with — enquiries which would employ 
the pen of a historian to satisfy, letters of compli- 
ment as unmeaning perhaps as they are troublesome, 
but which must be attended to, and the commonplace 
business, which employs my pen and my time: — 
often disagreeably * * * rp^ corrispond with 
those I love is among my highest gratifications. 
* * * Letters of friendship require no study, 
the communications are easy, and allowances are 
expected and made. This is not the case with those 
which require researches, consideration, recollection, 
and the de — 1 knows what to prevent error, and to 
answer the ends for which they are written.'* 

March 8, 1784, Washington wrote John Wither- 
spoon that he had intended *'to devote the present 
expiring winter to arranging my papers which I had 
left at home, and which I found a mere mass of con- 
fusion (occasioned by frequently shifting them into 
trunks, and suddenly removing them from the reach 
of the enemy) ; but, however strange it may seem, it 
is nevertheless true, that, what with company, refer- 
ences of old matters with which I ought not to be 
troubled, applications for certificates and copies of 
orders, in addition to the routine of letters, which 
have multiplied greatly upon me, I have not been able 
to touch a single paper, or transact any business of 
my own in the way of accounts during the whole 
course of the winter.'* Many of the papers "relating 
to the part I had acted in the war between France 
and Great Britain, from the year 1754, until the 
peace of Paris, and which contained some of the most 
interesting occurrences of my life were lost." 

When he retired from the Presidency in March, 
1797, Washington brought from Philadelphia to 

24 



Mount Vernon a quantity of manuscripts which was 
so considerable that he wrote, August 4, 1797: "I 
have not yet opened all my packages of papers, nor 
can I do it until I have provided some place in which 
they can be deposited with safety." From Mount 
Vernon, April 3, 1797, Washington wrote James 
McHenry that he intended to erect a building "for 
the accommodation and security of my military, civil 
and private papers, which are voluminous and may 
be interesting." July 29, 1798, he speaks of 'The 
moments employed in my usual and necessary avoca- 
tions, and which at all leisure hours I have been 
devoting to the arrangement and overhaul of my 
voluminous public papers civil and military that they 
may go into secure deposits and hereafter into hands 
that may be able to separate the grain from the 
chaff." March 4, 1795, "The letters which I write to 
acquaintances, or friends, are done at no great 
expense of time or thought. They are offhand pro- 
ductions, with little attention to composition or cor- 
rectness; and even under these circumstances are 
rarely attempted when they interfere with my public 
duties." October 15, 1797, "I soon found after enter- 
ing upon the duties of my late public station that pri- 
vate correspondences did not accord with official 
duties; and being determined to perform the latter 
to the best of my abilities, I early relinquished the 
former when business was not the subject of them." 
Of his method of writing business letters, he wrote 
his overseer: "Whenever I sit down to write you, I 
read your letter or letters carefully over, and as soon 
as I come to a part that requires to be noticed, I make 
a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste 
paper — ^then read on the next, noting that in like 
manner — and so on until I have got through the 
whole letter and reports. Then in writing my letter 

25 



to you, as soon as I have finished what I have to say 
on one of these notes, I draw my pen through it and 
proceed to another and another until the whole is 
done — crossing each as I go on, by which means if I 
am called off twenty times whilst writing, I can never 
with these notes before me, finished or unfinished, 
omit anything I wanted to say; and they serve me 
also, as I keep no copies of letters I wrote to you, as 
memorandums of what has been written if I should 
have occasion at any time to refer to them/' 

Mr. Harrison H. Dodge, Superintendent of 
Mount Vernon, writes me that the discovery of a 
bundle of original drafts of some of Washington's 
important letters shows that it was his custom stu- 
diously to revise his letters and issue clean copies of 
them. Corrections of spelling, changes of expres- 
sion, and words interlined or written on margins are 
frequent; and, as evidence of the copy having been 
completed, each letter shows where Washington drew 
his pen diagonally across the page. Mr. Fitzpatrick, 
of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Con- 
gress writes me : "One thing, which may properly be 
considered as belonging to Washington's mathemat- 
ical and artistic rather than military side, is the reg- 
ularity, care, spacing, and really beautiful appear- 
ance of almost every page of his writing. It is the 
opinion of Mr. Hunt, the Chief of this Division, that 
Washington liked to write, that he was pleased with 
the appearance of his written pages, as, indeed, he 
well might be. Certainly, a well-constructed page of 
manuscript, especially where there are indentations 
and perhaps small groups of figures, can be made an 
attractive picture." 

Few persons have used as much ink as George 
Washington, and that the care of ink and the beauty 
of ink were early matters of importance to him is 

26 



shown by one of his school copy books, in which 
young Washington has written the following 
receipts: "To keep ink from freezing or moulding. 
In hard frosty weather ink will be apt to freeze; 
which if once it doth it will be good for nothing, for 
it taketh away all its blackness and beauty. To pre- 
vent which (if you have not the conveniency of keep- 
ing it warm) put a few drops of brandy or other 
spirits into it and it will not freeze, and to hinder its 
moulding put a little salt therein." 

It was Washington's principle never to allow 
another to do what he could do for himself, and there 
is no exaggeration in saying that he was the busiest 
man in America. Washington, himself, entered in 
books lists of all articles ordered for his estates and 
copies of the receipts for them. He kept day books 
and ledgers, and drew up contracts and deeds with 
accurate legal knowledge. At Mount Vernon every 
Saturday afternoon reports were made and registered 
in books showing how every slave and laborer's time 
was employed and what crops had been gathered. 
Washington kept orderly files of the important letters 
which he received, and copied them into letter books. 
In later years he used a copying press. He had 
writing paper watermarked with his name. It is 
said that he was the first in this country to use the 
lead pencil and the letter press. From West Point, 
October 25, 1779, Washington wrote Benjamin Har- 
rison : "Letters of a private nature and for the mere 
purposes of friendly intercourse are, with me, the 
production of too much haste to allow time (gener- 
ally speaking) to take, or make fair copies of them. 
He wrote December 19, 1796, "My private letters are 
generally despatched in a hurry, and copies not often 
taken." To G. W. P. Custis, when a student at 
Princeton, he wrote, "To acknowledge the receipt of 

27 



letters is always proper, to remove doubts of their 
miscarriage.'* 

Washington's journals tell us of long hours spent 
at his desk, sometimes when the blue skies arched 
over his broad fields and his horses were stamping 
impatiently in their stalls, sometimes when the winter 
storms were beating on the shingles of Mount Vernon. 
For instance, his diary for June, 1768, records, 4 — at 
home all day, writing; 18 — at home all day preparg. 
Invoices and Letters for England ; 19 — Home Do Do. 
February 2, 1785, "Employed myself, as there could 
be no stirring without in writing letters by the post 
and in signing 83 diplomas for the members of the 
iety of the Cincinnati." After the Revolution it 
w^s remarked, "It's astonishing the packet of letters 
tife^ daily comes for him from all parts of the world, 
which employ him most of the morning to answer." 
and Washington wrote that: "my numerous corre- 
spondences are daily becoming irksome to me." Hor- 
ace Greeley used to say that his large private corre- 
spondence gave him a better knowledge than others 
Ixad of the public opinion. How much more is this 
.truerM Washington in those days when there was no 
'telegraph and no powerful daily papers to circulate 
the news — and Washington's ability to interpret the 
information furnished by his correspondents was 
astonishing, for he not only looked at things but into 
them and through them. 

Washington's diaries furnish daily records of a 
considerable portion of his life from the age of six- 
teen. It is probable that, with the single exception 
of the Revolutionary period, he did not omit any 
year in keeping his journals, and that the intervals 
are due to the loss of his note-books rather than to 
their not having been written. The first diary, which 
Washington calls "A Journal of my Journey over the 

28 



Mountains," begins March 11, 1748, and continues 
until April 13. It gives an account of an expedition 
made with his friend George Fairfax to survey the 
vast domains of Lord Fairfax, v^ho owned all of the 
lower part of the Shenandoah Valley. Washington's 
interest in trees and soil is shown in this journal to 
have begun when he was a boy, for he writes : "We 
went through most beautiful groves of Sugar Trees 
and spent ye last part of ye Day in admiring ye trees 
and richness of ye Land." He also speaks of "our 
time being too precious to lose." He tells of much 
hard work surveying, camping in the open, swim- 
ming horses across swollen streams, shooting wild 
turkeys, one of which weighed twenty pounds, and 
observing the dances of wild Indians. This diary 
covers twenty-four pages of a book about six inches 
long and four wide. Beginning with the last leaf of 
the same book are eighteen and a half pages of 
careful memoranda of the results of each day's work. 
A companion volume contains only the records of the 
surveys of 1749-50 and shows that Washington was 
constantly employed at this time. The journal of 
the voyage to Barbados with his sick brother Law- 
rence in 1751-52 consists of the remnants of forty- 
two leaves, but the paper is so poor that much of it 
has crumbled to dust, and only thirty-two leaves, and 
those considerably injured, can be made out. Wash- 
ington gives tables of the log of the vessel, including 
the weather, wind, speed, course, latitude and longi- 
tude and sails sighted. On the voyage the young sur- 
veyor studied navigation. The brothers were at Bar- 
bados from November 6 to December 22 and were 
cordially entertained. In spite of the fact that during 
a good deal of the time George was ill with smallpox, 
his observations of manners and customs, agriculture 
and fortifications are accurate and interesting. Man- 

29 



uscript diaries between 1752 and 1760 have not come 
down to us, but Washington's journals of 1753 and 
1754 were printed. 

Washington wrote the following preface to his 
account of his carrying to the French commander on 
the Ohio the protest of the Governor of Virginia 
against French occupation of Western lands. The 
narrative extends from October 31, 1753, to January 
16, 1754. "As it was thought advisable by his Honour 
the Governor to have the following account of my 
proceedings to and from the French on the Ohio, 
committed to Print — I think I can do no less than 
apologize, in some measure, for the numberless 
imperfections of it. There intervened but one day 
between my arrival in Williamsburg, and the time 
for the CounciFs Meeting, for me to prepare and 
transcribe, from the rough minutes I had taken in my 
travels, this Journal, the writing of which only was 
sufficient to employ me closely the whole time, conse- 
quently admitted of no leisure to consult of a new 
and proper form to offer it in, or to correct or amend 
the diction of the old. Neither was I apprised, nor 
did in the least conceive, when I wrote this for his 
Honour's Perusal, that it ever would be published, or 
even have more than a cursory Reading; till I was 
informed, at the meeting of the present General 
Assembly, that it was already in the Press. There is 
nothing can recommend it to the Public, but this. 
Those things which came under the notice of my own 
observation, I have been explicit and just in a Recital 
of: — Those which I have gathered from report, I 
have been particularly cautious not to augment, but 
collected the Opinions of the several Intelligencers, 
and selected from the whole, the most probable and 
consistent account." Only two copies of the original 
edition of this journal are known to exist. It was 

30 



copied in most of the colonial newspapers and printed 
by the British government, because it gave the first 
proof of hostile acts of the French. This journal 
shows the shrewdness in dealing with men of differ- 
ent races and conditions, the ability to keep clearly 
in view the important points of the expedition, and 
the patient endurance of extreme hardships which 
were marked features of Washington's character. 

Washington's notes of his first military expedi- 
tion against the French were captured when he sur- 
rendered Fort Necessity, and a translation of parts 
of it published by the French government has been 
imperfectly re-translated into English. It begins 
with his setting out from Alexandria, April 2, 1754, 
and ends abruptly June 27. Of this publication 
Washington wrote, "In regard to the journal I can 
only observe in general, that I kept no regular one 
during that expedition ; rough minutes of occurrences 
I certainly took, and find them as certainly and 
strangely metamorphosed ; some parts left out, which 
I remember were entered, and many things that 
never were thought. The names of men and things 
egregiously miscalled; and the whole of what I saw 
Englished is very incorrect and nonsensical." It 
would be of extraordinary interest if the original of 
this journal and of the papers captured at Braddock's 
defeat could be located among the French archives. 

The next manuscript journal is from January 1 
to May 22, 1760, and records incidents of Washing- 
ton's daily life at Mount Vernon, the weather, visits 
and the state of his fields and of his stock. From 
1760 to 1775 there are nearly continuous journals, 
with the exception of 1762. These diaries are in 
interleaved almanacs and relate largely to Washing- 
ton's estates. From 1768 Washington recorded, 
"where, how and with whom my time is spent." The 

31 



1 



memoranda of his social engagements in Philadelphia 
while attending the First and Second Continental 
Congresses and the Constitutional Convention show 
that he was extremely popular and widely enter- 
tained, when not in attendance on public duties. 
Washington was chosen Commander-in-Chief June 
15, 1775, and his diaries end June 19, not to be 
resumed till May 1, 1781, when Washington writes, 
"I begin at this epoch a concise journal of military 
transactions — I lament not having attempted it from 
the commencement of the War, in aid of my memory 
and wish the multiplicity of matters, which contin- 
ually surround me — and the embarrassed state of our 
affairs which is momently calling the attention to per- 
plexities of one kind and another, may not defeat 
altogether or so interrupt my present intention and 
plan as to render it of little avail." The journal of 
1781 ends November 5. The next journal, from Sep- 
tember 1 to October 4, 1784, tells of a tour made to 
visit his lands west of the Appalachians. There are 
continuous journals from January 1, 1785, to Feb- 
ruary 2, 1789, and from October 1, 1789, to June 1, 
1791. Washington gives an interesting account of 
his southern tour from June 2 to July 4, 1791, and 
another of his trip to Fort Cumberland at the time of 
the insurrection in western Pennsylvania from Sep- 
tember 30 to October 20, 1794. He usually gives in 
these diaries a description of the situation, produc- 
tions, industries and population of the places which 
he visited. The Toner collection includes copies of 
the diaries from October 1, 1789, to July 14, 1790, 
and from March 31, 1791, to June 1, of that year, but 
no one seems to know where the originals now are. 
Toner's copy also shows the diary from August 14 to 
December 21, 1795, and for the entire year of 1798. 
The originals of these two were sold at auction in 

32 



Philadelphia in 1907. Mr. Fitzpatrick, who has fur- 
nished me with much of this data, tells me that the 
minuteness and completeness of the weather records 
in Washington's diaries shows that, like all intelli- 
gent farmers, he needed a meteriological record in 
his farm work; information which now is supplied 
by the Weather Bureau. 

Washington recorded in his diary the state of 
the moon, the clouds, the direction of the wind, the 
amount of rain, snow, frost and drought, and when 
guests arrived and departed. January 8, 1785, is 
the first entry of the temperature, and doubtless 
before that date Washington did not have a ther- 
mometer. From that time he noted the temperature 
morning, noon and night, and when he was away 
Mrs. Washington recorded it for him. When he had 
company, Washington sometimes omitted the tem- 
perature at night. June 21, 1785, must have been a 
warm day, for he records that the mercury was at 
88 at night, which is as high as it seems to have gone 
at any time at Mount Vernon. It sometimes went 
as low as 10 degrees in winter, and then retired into 
the ball, after which the amount of cold could only 
be estimated. A few specimen entries are: "The 
horns of the moon were up." *'A watery sun which 
was soon obscured by clouds." January 27, 1772, "At 
home by ourselves, with much difficulty rid as far as 
the mill, the snow being up to the breast of a tall 
horse everywhere. Snowed all day. 28 — Violent 
north wind, very cold, snow drifted in high banks 
three feet deep everywhere. 29 — Sun shone in morn- 
ing, but by eleven o'clock it clouded up and snowed 
all night and then turned to rain. February 5, 1788. 
Mercury in the ball of the thermometer in the morn- 
ing from which it never rose the whole day, being 
intensely cold. The river was entirely closed in all 

33 



the malignancy of frost. 6 — Mercury in the ball all 
day. 7 — Mercury in the ball in the morning, by 
noon it rose to 24. 

The final diary gives an account of Washington's 
last days, and extends from February 10 to Decem- 
ber 13, 1799. It is principally about the weather. 
The last entry, comprising probably the last words 
Washington wrote, dated December 13, is as follows : 
"Morning snowing and abt. 3 inches deep — wind at 
No.E mer. 30. Contin'd snowing till 1 o'clock — 
and abt. 4 it became perfectly clear — wind in the 
same place but not hard — mer, 28 at night." About 
twenty-four hours after writing these words Wash- 
ington died. 

Reticent in conversation, Washington reveals 
himself to us with such rare completeness in his 
writing that, though thousands of books have been 
written about him, his own letters and diaries form 
his best biography. They explain the evolution of a 
great nation as well as of a great man, for they cover 
more than fifty of the most important years of our 
history. They show how a loyal colonist, driven by 
the foolish and unjust measures of the British 
Crown, developed into the First American. Washing- 
ton's writings are among the most authoritative and 
interesting source books on the French and Indian 
Wars, on the Revolution, on the framing of the 
Constitution, and on the organization and early ad- 
ministration of our Government. Washington was 
intimately associated with the notable men of our 
own country and with many distinguished foreigners. 
He has left descriptions of the life of a Virginia 
planter, of the manners and customs of old New 
York and Philadelphia, and of the wide sections of 
country over which he made his various journeys. 
The idea that Washington's was a cold nature would 

34 



not prevail if Mrs. Washington had not destroyed 
after his death all the letters that he wrote her with 
the exception of one written when they were engaged, 
and the one announcing his appointment as com- 
mander-in-chief, both of which are warm with real 
emotion. "Since that happy day when we made our 
pledges to each other my thoughts have been 
continually going to you as another self." 
"My dearest, 

"I am now set down to write to you on a subject 
which fills me with inexpressible concern, and this 
concern is greatly aggravated and increased, when I 
reflect upon the uneasiness I know it will give you. I 
should enjoy more real happiness in one month with 
you at home, than I have the most distant prospect 
of finding abroad, if my stay were to be seven times 
seven years. * * * i ghall feel no pain from the 
toil or the danger of the campaign : my unhappiness 
will flow from the uneasiness I know you will feel 
from being left alone.*' 

There is considerable evidence that Washington 
had a lively sense of humor. He has left many play- 
ful letters, of which the following to Francis 
Hopkinson may serve as a specimen. 
Dear Sir: — 

We are told of the amazing powers of musick in 
ancient times; but the stories of its effects are so 
surprising that we are not obliged to believe them, 
unless they had been founded upon better authority 
than poetic assertion — for the poets of old (whatever 
they may do in these days) were strangely addicted 
to the marvelous; and if I before doubted the truth 
of their relations with respect to the power of musick 
I am not fully convinced of their falsity — ^because I 
would not for the honor of my Country; allow that 
we are left by the ancients at an immeasurable dis- 

35 



tance in everything; and if they could soothe the 
ferocity of wild beasts, could draw the trees and 
stones after them, and could even charm the powers 
of Hell by their musick, I am sure that your produc- 
tions would have had at least virtue enough in them 
(without the aid of voice or instrument) to soften 
the ice of the Delaware or Potomac, and in that case 
you should have had an earlier acknowledgment of 
your favor of the first of December, which came to 
hand last Saturday. I readily admit the force of 
your distinction between *a thing done' and 'a thing 
to he done,^ and as I do not believe that you would 
do 'a very bad thing' * 'indeed I must ever make 
virtue of necessity and defend your performance 
if necessary to the last effort of my musical abilities. 
But my dear Sir, if you had any doubts about the 
reception which your work would meet with or had 
the smallest reason to think that you should need 
my assistance to defend it, you have not acted 
with your usual good judgment in the choice of 
a Coadjutor; for should the tide of prejudice not 
flow in favor of it (and so various are the tastes, 
opinions, and whims of men that even the sanction 
of Divinity does not ensure universal concurrence), 
what alas! can I say to support it? I can neither 
sing one of the songs nor raise a single note on any 
instrument to convince the unbelieving. But I have, 
however, one argument which will prevail with 
persons of true taste (at least in America) , I can tell 
them that it is the production of Mr. Hopkinson." 

Probably no man ever was busier with public 
affairs which involved no less than the future of the 
nation and of the human race and with vast personal 
and private interests. Yet few have devoted more 
time and strength to liberal and kindly efforts for 

36 



others. There are numerous letters written with 
painstaking thought, often at times when he was 
weighed down by public and private burdens, letters 
by which the affairs of George Washington were in 
no way advanced. 

For instance, in 1769 he wrote William Ramsay, 
offering to contribute twenty-five pounds a year 
towards the expenses of Ramsay's son at Princeton, 
and adding, "No other return is expected, or wished, 
for this offer, than that you will accept it with the 
same freedom and good will with which it is made, 
and that you may not even consider it in the light of 
an obligation, or mention it as such ; for, be assured, 
that from me it will never be known." Washington 
wrote John West, January 13, 1775, "What with my 
own business, my present ward's, my mother's, which 
is wholly in my hands, Colonel Colvill's, Mrs. Sav- 
age's, Colonel Fairfax's, Colonel Mercer's and the 
little assistance I have undertaken to give in the 
management of my brother Augustine's concerns 
(for I have absolutely refused to qualify as an 
executor), together with the share I take in public 
affairs, I have been kept constantly engaged in 
writing letters, settling accounts, and negotiating 
one piece of business or another ; by which means I 
have really been deprived of every kind of 
enjoyment." 

Washington's poor relations caused him con- 
stant solicitude, and the education and advancement 
of young people were always of interest to him. The 
many words of advice which he wrote them are so 
important that from his letters a volume on prac- 
tical education and ethics might be selected. 

Though few are aware of the vast quantity of 
Washington's writings, fewer still have any idea of 
their remarkable literary excellence. Washington's 

37 



letters and military and political papers show an 
ability to give accurate descriptions of all the circum- 
stances of a case, their relative importance and the 
logical course of action to be pursued with regard to 
them that is not surpassed by any statesman or 
commander in any age. In his English Notes, Haw- 
thorne records that among the autograph letters of 
statesmen and warriors of many nations and cen- 
turies he saw in the British Museum none so 
illustrious as those of Washington. 

The range of Washington's writings is immense ; 
they treat of military and political affairs, theories 
of government, finance, agriculture in all its depart- 
ments, the practical administration of a nation, and 
of a farm, the nature of soil, the development of 
western lands, the training and equipment of armies 
and the management of men, from colonial and revo- 
lutionary soldiers to farm hands and slaves. His 
works have a calm energy worthy of the strenuous 
times in which they were written and of the great 
themes of which they treat. Washington was a man 
with a vision, without which the people would have 
perished. Love of country was his controlling mo- 
tive, and his faith in the honesty, intelligence and 
future of the American people was based upon his 
comprehensive view of the whole field of American 
affairs. There is a drive and consecutiveness in his 
writing which moves steadily onward to his impor- 
tant conclusions. The power of his letters to accom- 
plish the purposes for which they were intended is 
unusual, if not unequaled. He knew the exact place 
to apply pressure and the exact amount and kind of 
pressure to use. He was severe when circumstances 
made it necessary, but I do not find an ill-natured 
word in all his writings, and when we consider the 
troublous times in which many of his letters were 

38 



written, their fairness and moderation are remark- 
able. He saw clearly, and what he saw he put in 
words that show the object without distortion like 
a pane of plate glass. If style consists first in having 
definite and worthy thoughts, and second in clothing 
those thoughts in accurate language, Washington is 
a master of style. Good taste pervaded his life, it 
manifested itself in his household, in his clothes and 
in his equipages, and it is nowhere more evident 
than in his writing. Style has been called organized 
expression. Washington organized his expression in 
deeds as well as in words, for he was a man of deeds 
more than of words, and over and above his deeds 
pervading and inspiring them were an insight and a 
living faith which made him dare to do what other 
men only talked about. Washington made a careful 
study of the methods of writing good English by 
writing constantly and by reading good models. In 
his early days he even attempted poetry, and the 
Rules of Conduct, which as a boy he copied into his 
school note book^ were an influence throughout his 
life, for his education was based on precept as well 
as on training. Washington's greatest reward was 
the knowledge that his work had been faithfully 
done, and he often refers to it in his writing. This 
knowledge is said to be the highest satisfaction of 
which human nature is capable. The most marked 
quality in Washington's writing is modesty; there 
is not a word of self-praise, nothing to indicate that 
he ever thought he had done more than what he 
called "the great line of my duty." 

It is not to be denied that Washington occasion- 
ally misspelled a word, but in this respect his letters 
compare favorably with those of his correspondents 
in either England or America. If you wish to form 
an idea of the spelling of the period, read the five 

39 



volumes of letters to Washington published by the 
Colonial Dames. It should be remembered that in 
Washington's time the standard of English spelling 
was by no means fixed. Samuel Johnson published 
his dictionary in 1755, the year of Braddock's defeat, 
and the dictionary of Noah Webster, who knew and 
corresponded with Washington, did not appear till 
six years after Washington's death. It was a con- 
siderable time before the effect of these monumental 
works was felt. Johnson's dictionary was in Wash- 
ington's library, but it was the edition of 1786. It 
is said that Washington usually wrote with a 
dictionary at hand. At any rate he was not only 
familiar with the technical terms of the subjects in 
which he was concerned, but he had a large general 
vocabulary and used ordinary words with extraor- 
dinary care. For instance, when George Washington 
employed the word "gentleman" it was more than 
an idle term. "I flatter myself" is the commonest 
expression in Washington's letters, meaning "it gives 
me pleasure to think," as : "I flatter myself we shall 
not experience any considerable difficulty." 

As might be expected, there are numeroHS 
Scriptural allusions in Washington's writings. His 
favorite reference is to the verse in Micah about 
reposing under his own vine and fig tree. This 
occurs over and over again. Washington wrote 
Marquis de Chastellux, April 25, 1788, "Your young 
military men, who want to reap a harvest of laurels, 
don't care (I suppose) how many seeds of war are 
sown; but for the sake of humanity it is devoutly 
to be wished, that the manly employment of agricul- 
ture, and the humanizing benefits of commerce, would 
supersede the waste of war and the rage of conquest ; 
and the swords might be turned to ploughshares, the 
spears into pruning-hooks, and as the Scripture 

40 



expresses it, 'the nations learn war no more/ " 
August 28, 1762, he wrote, ^'Tobacco is assailed by 
every villainous worm that has had existence since 
the days of Noah (how unkind it was of that Noah, 
now I have mentioned his name to suffer such a brood 
of Vermin to get a birth in the Ark) ." 

When Rhode Island was deliberating on the 
adoption of the Constitution he wrote, June 28, 1788, 
"The scales are ready to drop from the eyes of Rhode 
Island." He wrote to G. W. P. Custis, 'The wise 
man, you know, has told us (and a more useful 
lesson never was taught) that there is a time for all 
things." He says elsewhere, "In humble imitation 
of the wise man, I have set down to count the cost," 
and "Bricks are not to be made without straw." He 
also refers to the widow's mite. In the last year of 
his life he wrote, "Six days do I labor, or, in other 
words, take exercise and devote my time to various 
occupations in husbandry and about my mansion." 

Washington's familiarity with the best literature 
is evident from the fact that he quotes from writers 
like Shakespeare, Pope,and Addiscm, frequently with 
a slight deviation from the text, showing that he 
cited from memory "As Shakespeare says, 'He that 
robs me of my good name enriches not himself, but 
renders me poor indeed,' or words to that effect." 
He says he sits for his picture, "like Patience on a 
Monument." He makes an unusual quotation from 
King Henry V, Act IV, Scene 3, when he writes Mrs. 
Richard Stockton, September 2, 1783, "Notwith- 
standing 'you are the most offending soul alive* (that 
is, if it is a crime to write elegant poetry)." He 
quotes the line in Pope's Essay on Man, changing it 
to "as the twig is bent so it will grow." He refers 
to Cicero's belief in the immortality of the soul, and 
his familiarity with Cicero is shown in the following 

41 



letter which he wrote General Edward Hand, Oc- 
tober 2, 1783, "You who have converted the sword 
into a plough share will learn by experience that 
happiness dwells in domestic scenes, with a friendly 
intercourse of the living and the dead — by the dead I 
mean more benefit is to be derived from a few well 
selected books than from a large public library. Use- 
ful knowledge can have no enemy but the ignorant — 
it pleases the young, it delights the aged, is an orna- 
ment in prosperity and a comfort in adversity. It is 
not probable that a man will be asked at the day of 
Judgment his proficiency in Logic and Metaphysics. 
He who knows what is necessary to his salvation 
knows sufficient." Though Addison's Cato was not in 
his library, he often quotes, "The post of honor is a 
private station," and " Tis not in mortals to com- 
mand success." Paul Leicester Ford suggests that 
Washington probably heard these at the theatre. 
Washington refers to Pandora's box, to the fox and 
the sour grapes, and the daw and the borrowed 
feathers. At the sale of the Fairfax chattels in 1774, 
Washington bought a bust of Shakespeare. 

Washington always had an admiration for the 
French language, a knowledge of which would have 
been of great value to him in his early life as a Vir- 
ginia officer and later during the Revolution, but, 
though fond of using French words and phrases in 
his letters, he never attained any proficiency in 
the language, and as late as 1791 he sent French 
letters from Mount Vernon to Tobias Lear in Phila- 
delphia to be translated and returned to him. He 
wrote Dr. Boucher, January 2, 1771, "To be ac- 
quainted with the French tongue is become a part 
of polite education ; and to a man who has the pros- 
pect of mixing in a large circle absolutely necessary." 
Some of the French words which Washington uses 

42 



are faupas, which he writes as one word ; finesse, 
en passant, douceur, eclat, rendezvous, dernier resort, 
coup de grace, mal a propos, hauteur, on the tapis; 
and military terms, like corps de reserve, feu de joie, 
cul de sac, and coup de main. To General Howe, 
December 18, 1775, he wrote : **I do expect from you 
an eclairissement on this subject." 

Washington uses a number of Latin expressions, 
among them imperium in imperio, amor patriae, 
statu quo, vice versa, in terrorem, in toto, prima 
facie, viva voce, and bona fide. He shows a certain 
knowledge of legal Latin, sometimes using phrases 
like ad quod damnum. I find in his writings an 
occasional quaint old-fashioned word like maugre, 
which he uses a good many times; amusive and de- 
ceptious. Writing of mixing fertilizers, he speaks of 
*'jubling them well together in a cloth/' He also says, 
"If I should receive it timou^ly," and "a considerable 
parcel of salt/* 

In signing his letters Washington is careful to 
give to each person the exact consideration due him, 
and when he writes "Yours affectionately," it is more 
than a form of expression. The old-fashioned cere- 
monious way of addressing near relatives is notice- 
able; his mother is "Honored Madam," and he con- 
cludes a letter to John Augustine Washington, "I re- 
main, dear Sir, your most affectionate brother." 
Writing Governor Trumbull, he signs himself, "With 
the most perfect esteem and regard." He ends a 
letter to Lafayette, "With every sentiment of esteem, 
admiration and love, I am, my dear Marquis, your 
most affectionate friend." And one to General Knox, 
"With sentiments of the purest esteem, regard and 
affection." An amusing subscription is that of G. W. 
P. Custis, who tells Washington, his guardian and 
step-grandfather, that he is "dutifully and intrinsi- 
cally yours." 

43 



Washington's appreciation of literary style is 
shown by the comment he wrote March 19, 1783, on 
an anonymous attempt to subvert the loyalty of his 
army, which he says, "In point of composition, in 
elegance and force of expression has rarely been 
equaled in the English language." Washington's 
reply to this communication was so simple and touch- 
ing that it moved many of his officers to tears. As 
the General took his manuscript, which no one but 
him had seen, from his coat pocket, and drew out 
his glasses from his waistcoat pocket, he remarked, 
'- "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spec- 
tacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost 
blind in the service of my country." , His address is 
so admirably expressed that it should be read in its 
entirety in order to obtain an idea of what Wash- 
ington could write without the assistance of Ham- 
ilton, or Humphreys, or any other of his secretaries. 
It is possible here to quote but a few lines, though 
a short extract hardly gives a better idea of Wash- 
ington's manner of writing than the proverbial brick 
does of the architecture of a house. "If my conduct 
heretofore has not evinced to you that I have been 
a faithful friend to the army, my declaration of it 
at this time would be equally unavailing and im- 
proper. But, as I was among the first who embarked 
in the cause of our common country ; as I have never 
left your side one moment, but when called from you 
on public duty; as I have been the constant com- 
panion and witness of your distresses, and not among 
the last to feel and acknowledge your merits; as I 
have ever considered my own military reputation as 
inseparably connected with that of the army; as my 
heart has ever expanded with joy when I have heard 
its praises, and my indignation has arisen when the 
mouth of detraction has been opened against it; it 

44 



can scarcely be supposed, at this late stage of the 
war, that I am indifferent to its interests." 

Washington's letters to the British command- 
ers were distinguished for their force, combined with 
refinement and good breeding. His meaning was 
always clear, and his position so well taken that it 
was difficult to reply to him. For example, he wrote 
Lord Howe, January 30, 1778, "There is one passage 
of your letter which I cannot forbear taking partic- 
ular notice of. No expression of personal politeness 
to me can be acceptable, accompanied by reflections 
on the representatives of a free people, under whose 
authority I have the honor to act. The delicacy I 
have observed, in refraining from everything offen- 
sive in this way, entitled me to expect a similar treat- 
ment from you. I have not indulged myself against 
the present rulers of Great Britain, in the course of 
our correspondence, nor will I even now avail myself 
of so fruitful a theme." 

Washington's best known literary production, 
the Farewell Address, ranks with the Declaration of 
Independence as one of the famous documents of all 
time. Lincoln's classic is his Gettysburg Speech, 
which has been pronounced as perfect as the speeches 
of Pericles. Washington's classic is the Farewell 
Address, of which Joseph Choate remarked, "An emi- 
nent English historian has said of it that *there are 
few compositions of uninspired wisdom that will bear 
comparison with it,' and such, I believe, is the judg- 
ment of all the world." No careful man, however 
able, would issue such an important paper without 
first taking the advice of his friends, and Washing- 
ton consulted a number of people, the chief of whom 
was Hamilton, but to give Hamilton all the credit 
for the Farewell Address is as unjust as it is in- 
accurate. Washington furnished the ideas for the 

45 



Farewell Address. Hamilton was the stonecutter 
who carved the perfect statue in accordance with the 
designs of the master. 

He wrote to Washington, May 10, 1796, "When 
last in Philadelphia, you mentioned to me your wish, 
that I should redress a certain paper, which you had 
prepared. As it is important that a thing of this kind 
should be done with great care, and much at leisure 
touched and retouched, I submit a wish, that as soon 
as you have given it the body you mean it to have, it 
may be sent to me." The itaUcs are Hamilton's. 
Neither Hamilton nor any other man but Washington 
had the strenuous experience which makes such a 
document possible. The mere composition was an 
easy matter after the thought had been worked out 
in the brain of the Father of his country. 

Abundant examples exist of Washington's abil- 
ity to express himself with force, accuracy and ele- 
gance without the assistance of Hamilton or of any 
one else, showing clearly that extreme modesty and 
diffidence with regard to his powers caused him to 
employ the aid of Hamilton in the composition of the 
Farewell Address. The original manuscript, entirely 
in the handwriting of Washington, is now in the 
New York Public Library. It consists of thirty-two 
pages quarto letter paper, written on both sides and 
sewed together. On every page lines are erased and 
corrections made. Among the earlier papers of 
Washington which contain the thought of the Fare- 
well Address, are his letters to the Governors of each 
State, June 8, 1783, and his Farewell to the Army, 
November 2, 1783. In the former he enumerates 
four points which he says are essential to the exist- 
ence of the United States: "1, An indissoluble union 
of the States under one federal head; 2, sacred re- 
gard to public justice; 3, the adoption of a proper 

46 



peace establishment ; 4, the prevalence of that pacific 
and friendly disposition among the people of the 
United States which will induce them to forget their 
local prejudices and policies; to make those mutual 
concessions which are requisite to the general pros- 
perity ; and, in some instances, to sacrifice their indi- 
vidual advantage to the interest of the community." 
Horace Binney, in his exhaustive inquiry into 
the formation of the Farewell Address, states : "The 
original conception, the fundamental thought, pur- 
pose, or design of this paper was Washington's/* 
He says of the memoranda in which Washington 
gave his original ideas: "These are golden truths, 
a treasure of political wisdom, experience and fore- 
sight which, from the gravity of their tone, the depth 
of their sincerity, their simplicity and the tender- 
ness as well as the strength of the concern they man- 
ifest for the whole people, make in themselves a 
'Farewell Address,' as it were, from a dying father 
to his children. And they are Washington's alone, 
without suggestion by anybody — Madison, Hamilton 
or any other friend or adviser — drawn from the 
depth of Washington's own heart; and if the whole 
Farewell Address as it now stands on record were 
decomposed and such parts dispelled as were added 
to give the paper an entrance into the mind of states- 
men and legislators and to place it among the perma- 
nent rules of government, the great residuum would 
be found in these principles an imperishable legacy 
to the people. They are the soul of the Farewell 
Address." 

Many passages in Washington's writings are 

^remarkable for their felicity. His estimate of 

Franklin is so just and so beautifully worded that it 

has been chosen for the inscription on the base of the 

statue at the Philadelphia Post Office. It is : 

47 



"Venerated for Benevolence, 
Admired for Talents, 
Esteemed for Patriotism, 
Beloved for Philanthropy." 

Washington characterized the v^anton burning 
of Falmouth and Norfolk by the British as "flaming 
arguments for a separation." He wrote Lafayette, 
September 2, 1781 : "If you get anything new from 
any quarter, send it, I pray you, on the spur of speed, 
for I am almost all impatience and anxiety.** The 
italics are Washington's. His aptness in illustra- 
tion is shown by the following extract from a letter 
of November 20, 1780 : "Congress will deceive them- 
selves if they imagine that the army, or a State that 
is the theatre of war, can rub through a second cam- 
paign as the last. It would be as unreasonable to sup- 
pose that, because a man had rolled a snowball till 
it had acquired the size of a horse, that he might do 
so till it was as large as a house." January 18, 1784, 
he VTrites of the dangers of "a half -starved, limping 
government, that appears to be always moving upon 
crutches and tottering at every step." 

Washington's diaries show that he was not only 
an accurate observer, but that he was a lover of 
nature, with unusual powers of description. As far 
as I know the following passages have never been 
printed. It is not Gilbert White of Selborne, or 
Henry Thoreau, or John Burroughs, but George 
Washington who writes : "A great deal of rain fell 
last night and the heaviest sleet I ever recollect to 
have seen. The boughs of all the trees were incrusted 
by tubes of ice quite round, at least half an inch 
thick — the weight of which was so great that my 
late transplantations in many instances sunk under 
it, either by bending the bodies of the young trees — 

48 



breaking the limbs or weighing up the roots— the 
largest pines in my outer circle were quite oppressed 
by the ice and bowed to the ground, and the largest 
catalpa trees had some of their principal branches 
broken." '*A great hoar frost and ice at least one- 
eighth of an inch thick— what injury this may have 
done to the fruit and vegetation will soon be seen. 
The buds of every kind of tree and shrub are swell- 
ing — the tender leaves of many had unfolded — ^the 
apricot blossoms were putting forth — the peaches 
and cherries were upon the point of doing the same. 
The leaves of the apple trees were coming out, those 
of the weeping willow and lilac had been out many 
days and were the first to show themselves. The 
sassafras was ready to open — the red bud had begun 
to open but not to make any show — ^the dogwood had 
swelled into buttons. The service tree was showing 
its leaf, and the maple had been full in bloom ten 
days or a fortnight. Of this tree, I observed great 
difference in the colour of the blossoms ; some being 
of a deep scarlet, bordering upon crimson — others of 
a pale red, approaching yellow." 

Thursday, April 21, 1785: "Found what is 
called the spire bush (a fragrant aromatic shrub) in 
bloom — perceived this to be the case on Monday, also 
as I returned from Alexandria, and supposed it had 
been blown two or three days — it is a small green- 
ish flower, growing round the twigs and branches, 
and will look well in a shrubbery." In February, 
1786, referring to a shrub he had planted, he wrote : 
*lts light and airy foliage, crimson and variegated 
flowers, presented a gay and mirthful appearance; 
continually whilst in bloom visited by the brilliant, 
thundering humming-bird." 

Washington's writings abound in concise state- ' 
ments of general truths or aphorisms and explana- 

49 



I' 

tions of his philosophy of life. Here are a few: 
"From thinking proceeds speaking, thence to acting 
is often but a single step. But how irrevocable and 
tremendous." "We must bear up and make the 
best of mankind as they are, since we cannot have 
them as we wish." "There is no truth more thor- 
oughly established than that there exists, in the 
economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union 
between virtue and happiness, between duty and 
advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest 
and magnanimous policy, and the sohd rewards of 
public prosperity and felicity." "A good moral 
character is the first essential in a man. It is, there- 
fore, highly important to endeavor not only to be 
learned but virtuous." "There is but one straight 
course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it stead- 
ily." "Characters and habits are not easily taken up 
or suddenly laid aside.", "It appears to me that little 
more than common sense and common honesty in 
the transactions of the community at large would 
be necessary to make us a great and happy nation." 
"Every one who has any knowledge of my manner 
of acting in public life will be persuaded that I am 
not accustomed to impede the despatch or frustrate 
the success of business by a ceremonious attention 
to idle forms." "I can never think of promoting my 
convenience at the expense of a friend's interest and 
inclination." "I shall never attempt to palliate my 
own foibles by exposing the error of another." 
"Whilst I am in office, I shall never suffer private 
convenience to interfere with what I conceive to be 
my official duty." "I am resolved that no misrepre- 
sentations, falsehoods or calumny shall make me 
swerve from what I conceive to be the strict line of 
my duty." "To persevere in one's duty and be silent 
is the best answer to calumny." "Why should I ex- 

50 



pect to be exempt from censure, the unfailing lot of 
an elevated station ? Merit and talents which I can- 
not pretend to rival have ever been subject to it." 
"I could wish to make my conduct coincide with the 
wishes of mankind as far as I can consistently. I 
mean without departing from that great line of my 
duty, which though hid under a cloud for some time 
from a peculiarity of circumstances may nevertheless 
bear a scrutiny." "Ingratitude I hope will never con- 
stitute a part of my character."] /"I never wish to 
promise more than I have a moral certainty of per- 
forming." t'My opinion is that a young man should 
have objects of employment. Idleness is disreput- 
able under any circumstances — ^productive of no 
good, even when unaccompanied by vicious habits." 
"Secrecy and despatch may prove the soul of success 
to an enterprisa/j "Xbe man who wishes to steer 
clear of shelves and rocks must know where they 
lie.*' "The most certain way to make a man your 
enemy is to tell him you esteem him such." **The due 
administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good 
government." 

This last sentence ought to be placed in large 
letters on the walls of every courtroom, so that 
judges and lawyers, jurymen and witnesses may 
have this fundamental truth impressed upon them. 

Everything in Washington's writing is simple, 
natural and real. He writes so clearly that it is not 
possible to misunderstand him, and his control of 
language is surpassed only by his control of him- 
self. There is dignity and distinction in his life and 
in his words. Virtue with him was no abstract 
quality. It lived and breathed in his every act, so 
that, though he has given us a record of his life with 
perhaps unequaled minuteness, there is no word 
which he or we would wish to have blotted out. 

51 



Washington has demonstrated that man's business 
here is to know for the sake of living rather than 
to live for the sake of knowing. His principal legacy 
is not the thousands of pages he has written but 
himself. England's greatest contribution to the 
civilization of the world is the works of Shakespeare ; 
America's is the character of Washington. 



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